Radford business students assist with ‘taxing’ volunteer work

Corohn Gregg is aware of the irony.

A junior from Hampton, Virginia, he has never actually filed a tax return himself. Nevertheless, this spring, Gregg, an accounting major, helped more than two dozen others prepare their returns for the Internal Revenue Service.

It was practical experience he gained by working with New River Community Action's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which offers tax preparation services to local residents who earned $80,000 or less last year. Over the past several tax seasons, the Davis College of Business and Economics has provided VITA with office space and volunteer workers.

This year, four Radford student volunteers filed a total of 87 tax returns, while overall, VITA helped process 1,010 returns through its four locations across the New River Valley, in Radford as well as Christiansburg, Floyd and Pulaski.

If one figures an average estimated cost of $250 to $300 to have those returns filed professionally, VITA arguably saved residents about a quarter of a million dollars.

"I've always been someone who just likes to help people," Gregg recently explained of his decision to volunteer. "It really brought me joy whenever I was able to file someone's return and tell them, 'You only owe this much,' or 'You're going to have a refund of this much,' and seeing their reaction."

To take part, Gregg and the other students - Jacob Crewell, Debora Brumback and Jeffrey Kamal - had to complete an IRS certification course comprising three sessions, each lasting two to three hours.

"Honestly, it was pretty difficult at first, just starting, because I've never prepared my own tax return. But once I got the gist of what was going on, it was easy," he recalled, and said he ultimately processed 25 returns.

VITA program coordinator Molly Moulder has supervised the effort for three years now. She said the 2025 filings were done with a staff of just 12 volunteers, plus herself and another paid employee.

This year also saw VITA adopt virtual volunteers, or workers who offer service from their homes or locations outside the VITA offices.

"You can volunteer and do the work in your bedroom or on your couch," Moulder said. "It's different, but it really worked well for us this year."

Assistant Professor of Accounting Yiwen "Wendy" Li was a faculty coordinator of Radford's end of the work and thanked Dean Donna McCloskey for finding new incentives to fuel the efforts.

"Dean McCloskey secured funding from our alumni, which allowed us to provide a small honorarium to our undergraduate student participants from the Davis College of Business and Economics during this past tax season," Li said. "With the establishment of the (Virginia Credit Union) Financial Success Center, we also look forward to future opportunities of collaboration between the center and VITA."

For more information about VITA, including schedules, required documents, volunteer opportunities and what kind of services they can and cannot provide, visit VITA's webpage or go to: https://newrivercommunityaction.org/programs/volunteer-income-tax-assistance/